


I've Always Been Here ( In The Buttercups )

by jattendrai



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Fluff, Gen, Introspection, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-16
Updated: 2018-09-16
Packaged: 2019-07-13 05:54:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,757
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16011665
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jattendrai/pseuds/jattendrai
Summary: He did not need to worry about fallen children anymore; the monsters were long since freed by the last fallen one, and now the mountain is empty, with only him wandering the remains of their time. Nobody has come to the mountain since, and nobody ever will again.





	I've Always Been Here ( In The Buttercups )

**Author's Note:**

> inspired by "おなじ話" by Humbert and Humbert. I think Chara and Flowey deserve more, ha

“ Where are you?”

“  _ I’m sitting in the buttercups. _ ”

The cave was cool with the breeze moving downwards, an autumn day taking bloom high above them. The golden flowers swayed slightly at the draft and gathered the golden light lovingly against their wet petals. It obviously rained last night.

Flowey stood at the entrance before it, staring at the collection of buttercups. There was nobody else in the room besides himself, but the voice came from here.

He did not need to worry about fallen children anymore; the monsters were long since freed by the last fallen one, and now the mountain is empty, with only him wandering the remains of their time. Nobody has come to the mountain since, and nobody ever will again.

“ What are you doing?”

“  _ I’m not doing anything. _ ”

He moved further into the room and into the sunlight; it was warm, and nice, and he felt the soft downdraft against his petals. It’s been a while since the quiet was broken.

“ Can you come and play?”

“  _ Okay, let’s go to the ruins then. _ ”

It was the very little things that made their presence clear.

The turning of switches, the pressing of buttons, the way the leaves moved gently as they walked over the piles. The ruins were quiet, and Flowey didn’t make a single noise when he passed through them. It made him feel almost as invisible as them.

“ Where have you been?”

“  _ I’ve been in the buttercups, you found me there _ .”

His question didn’t come out right. They were a smart kid, but some things didn’t fully get through to them. He was the same, really.

They walked through the entire ruins, though he wasn’t sure where  _ they  _ were in terms of each other. He just followed the direction of puzzles being solved until they came to  _ HOME _ .

“ What do you want to do?”

“  _ I want to play with you _ .”

God, how long has HOME been barren now? A year? It’s been that long since she was around making butterscotch-cinnamon pies, reading books, dusting around the furnace, making sure she had enough snails for dinner. He helped in keeping it tidy for himself, though it lost it’s homeliness the day she left, and he was left with dusting the husk of what was once a home.

“ Where are you now?”

“ _ I’m in our old bedroom _ .”

The toys were still there. They had a favorite stuffed animal they liked to play pretend with, but also throw at him when he was putting up a fight to not go to bed. It was soft and fluffy, and even in it’s untouched state in the treasure chrest did it still hold it’s look of being beaten and worn down, like it was just yesterday that he had it thrown at his head. Lots of love went into that thing.

He sat on the bed opposite to theirs, which he assumed they were sitting on, too. The beds were tall enough that they used to swing their legs over them while doing homework, and sometimes his feet would accidently hit something underneath and make them laugh. “  _ Calm down there bucko _ ,” they’d say with the giggles. He’d laugh too.

There were drawings on the walls too --- they loved drawing. After dinner, Asgore would always lay out a bunch of sheets of paper on the table, and Flowey would grab the big box of colored pencils they had, and they’d spend the rest of the night drawing little things until Toriel was finished with dessert. Flowey always draw characters or people, while Chara would draw objects and abstract concepts. Once, Chara drew all of them together, surrounded by little golden doodles that could only be deciphered by Asgore as the buttercups, and it was framed and placed above the mantle. They covered their face in embarrassment.

“ Are you there?”

“ _ I’m just thinking, is all. _ ”

They must be looking at the photograph. It’s all of them together, smiling. Even them --- and they smiled a lot! They used to grin at the very little things, or if you pointed a camera at them, or if they were happy and you asked them if they were having a good time. They had a funny smile too; one that bared all their teeth, and pushed up their rosy cheeks and closed their eyes, and revealed their somewhat sharp incisors. They smiled like it was picture day every day.

It took awhile for that smile to come, though. So they appreciated it every time.

“ Can we go to the capital?”

“  _ Sure we can. _ ”

He couldn’t see them, but he knew they were following anyway. He trusted Chara like that. 

They left prints in the snow alongside his own tunneling track as they made their way out of HOME and into the snowy area. They weren’t around to see this at first, the snow. They were still kept up in the ruins, so it was fun to come out here.

“ Can we build a snowman?”

“  _ I’ll decorate it _ .”

They made the smallest snowman possible, and carefully two pebbles were placed for eyes, and a line was drawn for a nice smile, and the stick for a nose. No hands, sadly, they weren’t that talented yet.

Snowden was empty, and everything was closed. The library, Grillby’s, even the houses were all locked up for good. The lights were still on though, and they passed through the soft, golden glows and peaked through each window. They always had a soft spot for the library, since they loved to read so much; Chara was a big hoarder of books, and surpassed Flowey in his reading comprehension skills super quick when Toriel was teaching them at home. He pitched a fit over it, a little joking one, and he remembers Chara laughing at it. It was one of their first times they were heard laughing.

“ Let’s take a shortcut.”

“ _ Alright, lead the way _ .”

They took the abandoned river person raft and floated down the stream. Flowey took a look at himself in the water for a moment, and saw staring back at him what he has seen for years now; a flower.

“ Let’s go see the echo flowers.”

“  _ I haven’t seen those in forever, let’s go. _ ”

The echo flowers became plentiful as the monsters left the underground. They had time to grow, and overgrow, and take over the path that everybody walked; soon there were hundreds. Usually he could move faster, through the ground and around the entire area within seconds, but he didn’t want to leave Chara, so he walked on the floor and carefully followed the path of which the flowers seems to part on their own.

One flower was chosen, and they did that thing they could do where they spoke without being heard. Flowey frowned.

“ Can I listen to it?”

“  _ When i’m not around. _ ”

They took a secret way through Hotland to avoid the heat. Chara was never fond of extreme temperatures, and would always get fussy on really hot days, even when they had the A/C turned all the way up.

Chara always liked to press the buttons. It was one of those weird kid things, y’know, that they’d fight over; who got to press the elevator buttons this time! Who got to ring the bell trick-or-treating! It was silly, and ridiculous, and they were so  _ furious  _ every time they didn’t get to --- but he misses it. Those memories. They were fun.

“ Are you still there?”

“  _ I’d never leave you. _ ”

They took in the Capital sight. An entire town built from their demise, grey and forever pulling into the distance. Hundreds of buildings now abandoned by their people, with books and CDs and memories all left to sit in shelves, in boxes, as they left for a new life. Flowey has always wanted to explore those rooms, the many of them --- he could spend months looking through them all. But not alone, no: he wants Chara to come with, too.

NEW HOME was…… well, nothing new. They spent little time in it, and instead ran straight for the Throne.

Flowey hadn’t been here in forever. He forgot how the light filters in from the glass down the hallway, and the way every noise echoes and bounces off the giant columns. It was warm, and big, and he felt important when he walked through it. Chara probably ran ahead, as the doors opened and closed gently.

“ Where are you going?”

“  _ Don’t worry, i’ll wait for you _ .”

Their voice travelled through to them, just like before in the ruins. Once again he opened up the doors to find a room empty of all life, except for a big flow of buttercups running along the floor. You could hear the birds singing, and light shining from the ceiling.

“ Can I sit with you?”

“  _ Of course you can. _ ”

He found an approximation of where Chara was and layed down; the ceiling was stained glass, and it let in such a fine glow from above that gave everything a yellow tint. He could hear the buttercups rustle next to him, of Chara getting comfortable.

Something felt weird. Inside of him, that was; the moment was wonderful and perfect on it’s own, a day with Chara ending in the two laying in a bundle of buttercups and looking up at the beautiful tiles painted brown and gold, coming together to reflect the delta run symbol. 

But there was something inside of him that felt weird. He hadn’t felt anything in years, and he had no idea what was happening --- this wasn’t meant to happen to him. But there it was, where his chest would be, growing, blooming into something. He had to ask them.

  
  


“ Where did you go?”

He wanted to know. They know where he went; they came back together that day, and collapsed in the buttercups. But only he woke up, and in a body he never saw before. His flowey body.

But what about them? How was he given this sort of chance again ---- an empty-hearted, memory-less chance --- but they weren’t? Where they did spent so long, where did they leave to? And most importantly, why are they back? Was it Frisk, the child who had fallen who had brought them back, even in the state that they are. Could it have been him, and his momentary return as ASRIEL DREEMURR that revived them?

This was the feeling that was inside of him. He…. he missed them.

For a moment, he swore he saw someone next to him, someone smiling.

“  _ I’ve always been right here. _ ”


End file.
